"Making the vampire a serious character and the vampire hunters comic was the formula for the Abbott & Costello versus the Universal Studio monsters series in the 40's. It worked pretty well on film back then."
Good point, and I grew up watching and loving those movies on TV, but I do I think that's a very different kind of situation, and somehow I can't see a similar approach working in a stage musical. Maybe someone will try it someday, and we'll see what happens :-)
"Although there's no guarantee it would have worked in Dance of the Vampires on Broadway, I do believe it would have been better if Crawford had played the role as a serious vampire. "
Agreed, but to clarify: Since the score as it ended up on Broadway had some really campy, supposedly humorous numbers along with the more "serious" ones, and since the book as I recall it was jokey for very large sections of the action, I don't think any change in approach in Crawford's performance would have worked without major changes in the actual writing of the show. |
